


No Pain, No Gain

by NotManTheLessButNatureMore



Series: I Love You [5]
Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 11:44:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16831969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotManTheLessButNatureMore/pseuds/NotManTheLessButNatureMore
Summary: “Was that meant to happen?” Strike twisted his neck, trying to get a look back at her.





	No Pain, No Gain

“Ow!”

“Breathe through it.” Every word was dragged out and Robin’s voice had a strange hypnotic tone to it.

“I am, it’s not…” Strike’s voice trailed off and he muffled a curse into the duvet.

“Raise your arms.” The hypnotic voice commanded.

Strike moved his arms off the bed and winced at the pull across his shoulders.

“Not into the air, move them towards your head. Along the bed.” Strike smiled. Robin’s voice quickly switched from ethereal angel to long-suffering partner whenever he mistook one of her instructions.

“You know when you and Ilsa announced you were going to massage classes me and Nick thought-“

“What?” Robin’s hands dug deeper into Strike’s back.

“That it was a great idea.” Her hands eased up and Strike let out a breath.

“This should open up your...” Robin’s hands stilled as she tried to remember what her teacher had said a few hours earlier.

“My?”

“Rib cage. I think.” Strike tried to hold in a laugh. Robin was talented in a lot of ways but Strike found himself questioning her abilities as a masseuse. Every Tuesday for the past month Robin had returned to their flat ready to try out a new massage technique on him. He and Nick had exchanged horror stories over the weekend and laughed when they discovered that they had both been waiting for their other halves in the bedroom with massage oil, low lighting and soft music that first night. Nick and Strike had spent the next few days with a burning pain in their necks and stiff shoulders.

Robin’s fingers slid across his back and Strike relaxed into the bed, praying that there was no ‘deep tissue work’ to come. His hamstrings had almost snapped in half last week.

“This should help with your rounded shoulders.”

“My what?”

“You spend hours hunched over evidence and case files, it’s inevitable.”

“I don’t have-“ A high pitched squeak escaped Strike’s mouth as one of Robin’s knuckles dug in between his ribs.

“Just relax.”

Strike stuffed his face once more into the duvet and tried to relax.

_Crack!_

Strike felt a short pain and then a release in his back, just below his shoulders. Robin’s hands stilled.

“Was that meant to happen?” Strike twisted his neck, trying to get a look back at her.

“Um. It’s fine, it’s just your body releasing tension.”

“What cracked?”

“Nothing. You’re just holding tension in your back.”

“Wonder why?” He mumbled.

“I thought you said you were looking forward to this?”

“I said that the first night.”

“And what changed?”

“You proceeded to almost choke the life out of me.”

“No I didn’t!”

Robin, who was currently kneeling on the bed with one leg on either side of him, sat back and the various aches in his body were silenced by the feel of her thighs pressed against his hips. Strike reached back blindly and grabbed an arm, pulling her down so she was practically lying on top of him with her chin hooked over his shoulder.

“Robin, I love you. But not as a masseuse, you’re killing me.”

“I thought-“

“I know.” His face was soft and lightened her disappointment somewhat. If she was honest she knew that both Ilsa and herself weren’t the most gifted members of the class. She nuzzled more comfortably against Strike, wrapping her arms under him and across his chest and sneaking a leg under his.

“This is doing wonders for my tension.” Strike smiled, turning his head towards hers.

“Have I really been terrible?” Robin asked, her eyes searching his in that way that made her look vulnerable. Strike turned, with a wince, onto his side pulling her with him so they stayed tangled together.

“I think you misplaced a rib.” Strike responded causing Robin to laugh.

“Want me to kiss it better.” Robin raised an eyebrow suggestively and Strike’s face lit up as he rolled on top of her. Robin giggled as he began kissing his way down her neck and chest.

“Now this…”, _kiss_ , “…is the kind…”, _kiss_ , “…of massage…”, _kiss_ , “…I was thinking of.” Strike looked up at her with dark eyes as he hovered above her stomach and Robin imagined his breath ghosting across her bare stomach.

“I love you.”

“I love you. In spite of your terrible massage skills.”

A while later Strike noticed a text from Nick on his phone.

_“How do I tell Ilsa I think she cracked a rib?”_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! :)


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